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The Man Utd legend sent a message to Sir Alex Ferguson after his sour exit from Old Trafford nearly twenty years ago.
It was on a cold, chilly night in January 2010 that Sir Alex Ferguson’s phone buzzed upon receipt of a surprising text message. "I don't know whether you remember me. But I need to call you,” it read.
Remember him, he did. It was from Ruud van Nistelrooy. “He left four years ago!” Sir Alex exclaimed to his late wife, Cathy. “Maybe he’d like to come back to United?” she pondered.
Ferguson was puzzled. He sent a text message back that simply read ‘ok.’ Seconds later, the phone rang. There was some awkward small talk about Van Nistelrooy’s subsequent playing career, then a sentence Ferguson had waited four years to hear. “I want to apologise for my behaviour in my last year at United.”
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For a certain era of Manchester United supporters, there is no striker adored more than Van Nistelrooy. He might not have won the same honours as other fabled forwards, but he remains one of the greatest goal scorers Old Trafford has ever seen.
The Dutchman had agreed to join United in the summer of 2000, but the move was delayed by a year due to concerns over his medical reports. PSV Eindhoven insisted Van Nistelrooy's knee ligament damage was minor, but former United club doctor Mike Stone disagreed.
PSV planned to prove his fitness and document it for United so they would complete the deal. He was rushed back into training and suffered a serious knee injury that left him side lined for almost a year. It could have been the end, but Ferguson reassured him the offer still stood as long as he regained the same speed and agility that caught his eye in the first place.
A year later than planned, Van Nistelrooy joined United for a then British transfer record of £19 million. He soon appeared to be a bargain. In five years, he scored 150 goals in 219 matches and won every major domestic prize in English football. He was also named Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award twice and became the club's then-all-time European record goal scorer.
"If you put my great goal-scorers together Ruud was the most prolific," Ferguson penned in his 2013 autobiography. "He was one of the most selfish finishers I ever saw. His personal goal tally was his guiding obsession. That single-mindedness gave him the edge of a great assassin. He had no interest in build-up play or how many yards he had run in a game. The only aspect he was ever interested in was: how many goals did Ruud van Nistelrooy score."
Yet, even now, his legacy is complicated and he doesn’t necessarily get the amount of credit he truly deserves.
"Pairing up with Van Nistelrooy wasn't going to work for Andy (Cole), so I sold him to Blackburn Rovers," Ferguson said. "Another striker who ran up the problem of Ruud's singularity was Forlan, a grand player. Ruud wanted to be the No.1 finisher. That was his nature. Diego Forlan didn't register on his radar at all, so when you put the two of them out there together there was zero chemistry."
United legend Roy Keane could relate to the issue. He sympathised with close friend Forlan, but knew Van Nistelrooy was a unique talent who had to be catered for by the rest of the team.
"Ruud was the best finisher, ever, but especially in one-on-one situations, just the keeper to beat," Keane wrote in his second autobiography. "When Ruud was going through, one-on-one, I never doubted him. Some players would be going, 'F**ckin' hell - hard and low? Or dink it over?', but when Ruud was through there might as well have been no goalkeeper."
It meant that while Van Nistelrooy excelled, some of his teammates didn’t. Just ask Cristiano Ronaldo.
"Ruud was the man at United at the time; he was the man who scored all the goals," Rio Ferdinand recalled earlier this year. "Ronaldo had the ball wide and was doing tricks and Ruud was making the run in the box; Ronaldo didn't cross and Ruud went crazy, screaming. 'He should be in the circus, he shouldn't be on the pitch,' Ruud said, and walked in, off the training pitch, and Ronaldo got upset and angry - 'Why is he talking to me like that?'"
Ferguson was what was best for Van Nistelrooy wasn’t necessarily the best for the team and the warning signs had been there since they first discussed his contract extension the same summer Ronaldo joined.
Van Nistelrooy was aware of interest from Real Madrid and considered his future at Old Trafford. He eventually signed a bumper new deal, but insisted on a £35 million release clause to join the La Liga giants.
"The moment Ruud signed that contract he changed," the Scot reflected. "In his last season he became a really difficult boy. I don't think he was popular by the end. The alteration in him was dramatic."
Van Nistelrooy was still just as lethal in front of goal, but he wasn’t getting the ball as much and didn’t like how he had to share the limelight with young stars Wayne Rooney and Ronaldo
Ferguson said: "Ruud had started to mouth off all the time to Carlos Queiroz about Ronaldo. There were a few stand-up confrontations, but nothing unmanageable."
Another issue was that Van Nistelrooy felt the team was in transition and he didn’t want to miss out on a chance of winning the Champions League elsewhere. He acknowledged that Rooney and Ronaldo were both exceptional talents, but they didn’t have enough star quality to conquer Europe there and then.
Ferguson told him in an important chat: "But they're great players. You should be leading these young players. Helping them." Van Nistelrooy didn't see it that way.
Van Nistelrooy was United’s top scorer in his final season and only finished behind Thierry Henry in the race for the Golden Boot. Yet his selfish approach saw him fall out of favour with Ferguson and he famously didn’t feature in the League Cup final victory.
"We were on cruise control against Wigan," Ferguson wrote in his book. "I saw an ideal opportunity to give Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic a taste of the game. They were my final substitutions.
"I turned to Ruud and said: 'I'm going to give these two lads a part of the game.' They were going to get a touch, a smell of winning something with Manchester United." According to the legendary manager, Van Nistelrooy replied angrily. "'You ****,’. I'll always remember that."
A bad situation quickly became even worse and there was an obvious tension in the team. There would be no way back for him. "That was the end of him. I knew we would never get him back,” Ferguson added. “He'd burned his boats. After that incident, his behaviour became worse and worse."
Van Nistelrooy later reflected on the altercation and admitted he was in the wrong, driven by his self-interests and the same selfishness that made him such a lethal goal scorer.
"I called him something. I called him a number of things in a blind rage. Cocky and stubborn as I was, I couldn't snap out of that for some time after. That's how it all crashed."It was just really disrespectful, there were lots of other people there. It wasn't all that outrageous in terms of words but it was completely out of order. Not done. I wasn't proud of it, I'm still not."
The Dutch striker was a substitute across the next six matches, and although he was recalled to the line-up for wins against West Ham and Bolton, any chance of a reprieve was ended by a training ground argument with Ronaldo.
"Ronaldo had recently lost his father,” Ferguson recalled. “During that week, Ruud had taken a kick at Ronaldo on the training ground and said: 'What are you going to do? Complain to your daddy?' He meant Carlos, not Cristiano's dad.
"The whole episode was very sad. Why Ruud changed, I don't know. It didn't do him any favours or bring him any credit in the sense of respect from the other players."
By the final day of the season, Ferguson didn’t feel like he could trust the star striker to do what was best for the team. In what should have been his Old Trafford farewell, he was left out of the match day squad. When he learned he would not be involved, Van Nistelrooy stormed out of Old Trafford three hours before kick-off.
A year after he had asked to join Real Madrid, his wish was finally granted. Ferguson publicly stated Van Nistelrooy wanted to leave United and he joined Real Madrid on a three-year contract for just £14 million.
"It was very harsh, both ways,” the striker said. “Especially after five years of having such a strong bond. I learned so much from him, and in all modesty: he from me too. And yet the end was ruthless."
Two years later, Rooney and Ronaldo guided United to Champions League glory, while Van Nistelrooy won two La Liga titles but no European honours in Madrid. In a twist of irony, he even played alongside Ronaldo during his final season at the club.
"Mulling over Ruud's call to me, that winter night, I knew that two or three Premier League clubs were looking at him, but couldn't see that being a reason for him wanting to speak to me," Ferguson reflected.
"There would have been no need for him to repair his relationship with Manchester United in order for him to play for another club in England. Perhaps it was a guilt complex. It might have been playing on his mind for ages. Ruud was doubtless a more mature person by that stage.”
You only have to look at the reception Van Nistelrooy received during his stint as caretaker manager to know the supporters have forgiven. But when he looks back at the major honour missing from his playing career, he might not be able to forgive himself.
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Related topics:Ruud van NistelrooyReal MadridAlex FergusonTransfer News
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